Fedora, Five O'clock Shadows, Tyranny and Slavery

Jesus said, “I will not talk with you much longer, because the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over Me” (John 14:30).

(KJV – “for the prince of this world cometh, and he hath nothing in me”).

MizzE, the QP, said, “Biggest lesson I learned for myself: Saying ‘NO’ to tyrants in a straight forward manner and walking away, if necessary, in order to preserve your own sanity and soul, is OK.”

A lonely figure wanders homeless and hungry for weeks. By rights he should be back in the city running things, but his father has other plans. The son is on a mission that no one recognizes or understands. The head of the syndicate, Snake, I think they call him, finds the son out in the wasteland. Snake makes the kid a very reasonable offer of some easy dough. The son refuses. Snake smiles. He understands negotiations. The kid isn’t as naïve as he figured, but that’s OK. He ups the ante. How about worldwide fame for very little risk? Again the son refuses. Snake nods, no longer smiling, and then makes the offer he knows the son can’t refuse. “I know why you’re here, kid,” he says. “You’ve come to take over, so let’s do it. I’ll cut you in – give you all my turf. You just give me my due and keep me on as a silent partner.”*

“Get thee behind Me, Satan.”

Jesus says “NO” to the devil, walks away and takes the long, hard path to Golgotha. He embraces the freedom of obedience to the Spirit. As a result, His defeat is eternal victory and His death is life everlasting.

No one knows temptation the way Jesus does because He alone never yielded.

The hook in a thousand plots is that, for love or loyalty, the hero compromised and now he is an outcast in a shabby office on the seedy side of town doing dirty jobs dirt cheap because that’s the only option left. Somebody has the hooks in him, and the plot turns on his one chance for redemption, though it will cost him everything. The difference between the Gospel and the film noir is that Jesus makes the choice up front and sticks with it all the way through to the tomb.

It’s important to appreciate the subtlety of the devil’s offer in that he seems to say Jesus could save the world without that ugly scene on the cross. Mankind needed Jesus as king. Can you imagine the glorious reign Jesus could have established on earth? He could have called in many promises and prophecies to be fulfilled in the restoration of David’s throne. Further, the Disciples themselves had come to depend on their Lord. They believed, and so stated repeatedly, that they expected Him to restore the kingdom. That was Messiah’s mission. What was the point of all this talk about death and loss?

The devil tempts us to skip the bad parts in God’s path and zoom straight to the end of the road – to what we are (or think we are) supposed to possess anyway. However, as any hardboiled detective can tell you, the mob will only give you what you want so they can have what they want. The devil will demand his due. There will come a day when Faust gets the bill. God’s way, though hidden and hard to understand, is the way of freedom and peace.

We know that being in bondage is a bad thing. It does not matter what my outward status may be, what’s in my bank account, what I drive or with whom I sleep. Forge my chains of gold and wrap them in silk, and I am still in bondage. Freedom and sanity are more important than material wealth and ease, or the transient approval or even adoration of the fickle. It occurs to me, though, that if I am in a relationship with someone who is a tyrant, I may be keeping both of us in bondage.

As the man in Jerry Clowers’ story says, “Just shoot up in here amongst us. One of us got to have some relief.”

Somebody has to come to their senses and put an end to what’s going on. By saying ‘NO’ in the straightforward manner that QP suggests, I can potentially set both of us free. Without an enabling slave, a tyrant is powerless. The tyrant can find freedom if she chooses. As for me, I choose the Lord’s way to peace, sanity and freedom right now.




*Thanks to Ben for his recent noirspirations.